Cigarette maker Altria Group, Inc. (MO) announced a surge in fourth-quarter net earnings attributable to the company to $1.24 billion from $488 million in the year-ago period. Year-over-year, quarterly reported earnings per share rose over 100% to $0.63 from $0.24, driven mainly by higher 2013 losses on early extinguishment of debt and higher reported OCI in the smokeable products division.
Quarterly adjusted earnings per share, which excludes the special items, grew 15.8% to $0.66, helped by higher adjusted OCI in the smokeable products segment, a lower tax rate resulting from the 2013 debt tender offer, and lower interest and other debt expense. On average, nine analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.67 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. Higher earnings from Altria's equity investment in SABMiller, fewer shares outstanding and higher gains on asset sales at PMCC also contributed to higher adjusted diluted EPS for the quarter. These factors were partially offset by higher investment in innovative tobacco products.
Owing to higher net revenues in all reportable segments and higher gains on asset sales at Philip Morris Capital Corp. or PMCC, net revenues for the quarter increased by 2.9% to $6.3 billion from $6.08 billion last year.
Looking ahead, Altria forecasts its full-year 2015 adjusted EPS to be in the range of $2.75 to $2.80, representing a growth rate of 7% to 9% from an adjusted EPS base of $2.57 in 2014. Analysts expect annual earnings of $2.80 per share. It expects 2015 full-year effective tax rate on operations to be nearly 35%.
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